- sponsored by the Walter Kölle Foundation -
The Water Chemistry Society of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) will be awarding for the first time in 2026 up to three Student Water Awards to honour outstanding master's theses in the water chemistry subjects of environmental and water sciences, environmental and water analysis, water engineering and related disciplines, which are characterised by high innovation potential, convincing objectives and a clear structure. Each prize comes with an award certificate and prize money of 500 euros from the Walter-Kölle-Stiftung Foundation. The award ceremony will take place during the annual conference WASSER of the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft. The prize committee is made up of members of the Young Water Forum (JWF) the decision on the awarding of the prize is made by the board of the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft.
The prize has not yet been announced.
Submission deadline: 31 October 2025
Objective
The Water Chemistry Division of the German Chemical Society (GDCh) will award prizes for up to three master's theses in the fields of water chemistry, environmental and water sciences, environmental and water analysis, water engineering and related disciplines for the first time in 2026. Outstanding scientific work that is characterised by high innovation potential, convincing objectives and a clear structure will be honoured.
The prize
Each award comes with a certificate, one year's free membership of the specialist group and prize money of 500 euros from the Walter-Kölle-Stiftung. The prize will be awarded on the occasion of the annual conference WATER 2026, which will take place in Kiel from 11-13 May 2026. The award winners will be invited to present the prize-winning work in the form of a short scientific lecture at the conference. The conference fees will be paid by the specialist group. The prize committee is made up of members of the Junges Wasserforum (JWF); the decision on the awarding of the prize is made by the Executive Board of the Wasserchemische Gesellschaft.
Nomination
Nominations are usually made by the scientific supervisors, who can submit a maximum of one proposal per year. Self-nominations are excluded. The Master's thesis must have been completed within the last 12 months before the submission deadline (date of the Master's certificate) . All nominations include the following documents:
Submission
Please send your proposal by e-mail and summarised in a PDF file to the GDCh office for the attention of Maike Fries.